Santa Cruz Police Chief Andrew Mills’ Oct. 14, 2017 opinion piece in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, “Homeless problem demands action and SCPD is acting” has worried many, fearing the city is planning to silence Food Not Bombs. The local group has been sharing meals and providing support for those without housing since 1992. The Santa Cruz group is one of over 1,000 Food Not Bombs groups active in at least 65 countries.

Local anti-homeless activists have been trying to stop the community from feeding the hungry since 1988 when volunteers known as “Soup Without a Permit” were arrested. Like those efforts to stop San Francisco Food Not Bombs, worldwide media attention of the arrests in Santa Cruz were a costly embarrassment that failed to stop the meals.

Anti-homeless activists have continued to try to stop Santa Cruz Food Not Bombs by flooding City Council with emails claiming we leave the post office dirty, but the pictures they send show the area spotless. Apparently frustrated that the area was left clean, they started leaving bags of garbage outside the post office sharing photos of their garbage with local officials. When we started posting pictures of the post office immediately after each meal on Facebook, the bags of garbage never returned.

The staged photos of garbage were used in a Change.org petition demanding Food Not Bombs stop sharing food outside the post office. They got less than 87 signatures in three weeks. A Change.org petition supporting Food Not Bombs’ right to share meals outside the post office had over 1,000 in three days. Petition A fence was erected around the Post Office in another attempt to silence the meals but was so unpopular it attracted protesters.

A Facebook posting falsely claimed we were asking people to come and pee on the fence but no one other than the police knew to come. Anti-homeless activist wrote the city asking them to move us indoors. Then they claim we were offered an indoor place and refused. No official ever offered us an indoor location and if asked we would refuse because our purpose is creating public awareness and encouraging community dialogue.

Food Not Bombs was falsely accused of attracting rats to the post office although they’ve lived there for decades. Food Not Bombs was accused of creating a homeless encampment outside the post office although people moved to the post office when City Manager Martin Bernal pushed them out of the area around City Hall.

Anti-homeless activists demanded the Health Department close us down for not having permits and being a danger to the homeless. But the Health Department says they inspected our meals and know we’re sanitary and would qualify for a permit if we asked. But they know we won’t. We know from experience, permits are designed to be withdrawn.

When that failed, they started a campaign claiming in letters to local publications and online that we’re responsible for the Hepatitis A epidemic. The new chief of police, Andrew G. Mills, joined the chorus, making a false statement in an oped claiming the post office is ground zero for Hep. A, implying Food Not Bombs is the source of this foodborne epidemic. But Food Not Bombs has been working with the Health Department in a campaign to stop the epidemic and the county spokesperson, Jason Hoppin, denied Chief Mills allegations the following day in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Just as happened when officials in San Francisco, Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale and the many other cities that tried to shut down Food Not Bombs our support increased, more people volunteered, joined the meal and or started groups in other communities.